Type-writer carriage-return mechanism.



N. L. ANDERSON.

TYPE WRITER CARRIAGE RETURN MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 3, 1910.

Patented July 15, 1913.

TYPE-'Wfil'TER CARRIAGE-RETURN MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July is, leis.

Application filed November 3, 1910, Serial-NoJSGAfi.

To all whom, it may concern):

. Be it known that I, NEAL LAisbnnsou, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Winston, county of Forsyth, North Caroline, and whose post-ofiice address. is First- Presbyterisn l1urch, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Type-V'Vriter Cerriage-Return Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a 'full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it eppertsins to makeend use the same.

The invention relates particularly to the application of power-driven carriage-return mechanism to typewriters of that type which, like the Underwood typewriter, for example, have a laterally moving line-spacing lever through which the power of the carriage-return mechanism is applied to space the line and return the carriage. In my earlier U. S. Letters Patent NO" 990642-"01" ()ctoher 1908, and No. 953,938 of April 5, 1910, I have disclosed improved power-driven carriage-return mechanism applicable to typewriters of this character, and the present invention has been developed with the particular purpose of improving the operation of such carriage-return mechanism. It may, however; be employed with other types of carriage-return mechanism, and although in my earlier patents the whole power of the carriage-return mechanism was applied to the typewriter carriage through the line spacing lever, that is not essential to the present invention.

l. have found that when the carriage-return cord or band is attached directly to the "line-spacing lever and particularly Where there is some tension at all times on the said bend, the tendency is to interfere with the proper operation of'the line-spacing lever.

As is Well lmovrn, the line-spacing operation is ordinarily brought about by the engage ment of a pawl with a ratchet on the axle of the platen, the pawl being actuated by the line-spacing lever, and mechanism being provided for adjusting the period of air gagement oi the pawl to change the linespacing movement. The operation or" the line-spacing lever is such that during the first port of the movement the pawl is out (if-en asement with the ratchet endthe resistance or the platen is not opposed to the IDOYPIDHY'Y of the lever, and the time at which the pawl comes into engagement with etiect the line-s sein 0* er the ratchet depends upon the setting of the adjusting mechanism. if then the carriage return hand. is fastened direct-l to the. line spacing lever and t-here is some tension on the band, as should preferably be the case, the lever is likely to move under the pull of the bunduntil it is opposedby the engagemerit of the pawl with the ratchet onthe platen. The result is that if the line spacing is changed from a narrow to a wider sharp blow, tekingh'dvngitoge, for that purpose, of the momentum acquired by the linespacing lever and associated parts during the first part of the movement, before the pawl engages the ratchet, and if this preliminary movement is prevented the ten sion of the hand, the feeding of thepuger is likely to be defective.

In accordance with the present invention, therefore, I do away with the connection of the carriage-return bond to the linespuo ing lever, and connect it to the c lugs, and in order to effect by means of the powerdriven carriage-return n1ecl1unis1n,,the return of the carriage and the spacing of the platen, I provide sliding ulmtinent which is actuated by the pull of the cart-lagersturn hand to deliver, during the return moveinent, a sharp blow to the line spacing; lever. Inasmuch as, in typewriters of the character referred to, the line-s1 ucing lever is'thc thing through which power is upplietl by hand, in the ordinary operation of such machines, to return the carriage. and innsnmch as there is provided. on the carriage. for that purpose, it fixed abutment against which the line-spacing lever strikes at the end of the line-spacingmovement, to utterward impart the force applied to it directly to the carriage, it becomes convenient, in accordance with the preferred form of my invention, to apply the force of the power driven carriage-return mechanism. ust us the hand power is usually applied. 1'. (a, to first sharply move the lineeeing lever to on, and then toepply the carriagercturn pow-er to the citrriag'e through the linespocing lever and s fixed abutment. This desirable result its riag'e a slide to which the carriage-return band is connected, and providing on the slide an abutment adapted to strike and actuate the line-spacing lever, the slide being connected to the carriage by a spring which is of sufficient strength to withdraw the abutment out of engagement with the line-' spacing lever, against that tension which is normally on the carriage return cord when the carriage is advancing or at rest. Such preferred form of the invention is illus- "trated in the accompanying drawings, in

whichwhat diagrammatic char cte r, of an Underwood typewriter equippe driven carriage-return mechanism disclosed in my above mentioned patents, together with the improved mechanism of the present invention for applying the power to the carriage; Fig. 2, is a detail plan partly in section, and on a larger scale, showing the slide in its relation to the line-spacing'lever is a section on the line. 33 of and Fig. 3 Fig. 2. i

In the drawingspl represents the frame of the. typewriter, 2 the casing of the car:

riage return motor, 3 the pulley on which the carriage return band 4, iswound, and 5' a spring pressed arm forming part of an automatic slack take-up mechanism constrncted in accordance with my Patent No. 953,938, and which puts some tension on the carriage-return band 4. The carriage return keys, which control the motor, are shown at 6 and 7. ,The band 4'runs over the guide pulley 8 journaled in a bracket on the frame of the machine and its free end is passed over the book 9 on the slide bar 10, which slide bar is guided in and sup ported by the guide member 11 fastened to the front bar of the typewriter carriage by the screws 12. Extending from the guide member 11 beneath the front bar of the carriage is a short arm 14, and between this arm and a rearwardly extended arm 15 fixed to the slide bar 10 is a coiled spring 16, which tends to draw the slide bar to the left against that tension which is normally on the'carria e-return cord when the carriage is not being returned. At the extreme left-hand end of the slide bar' 10 is an upstanding abutment 17 adapted to engage the line-spacinglevcr 18, and the line-spacing lever is limited in its movement, in the'usual way, by the abutments 19 and 20. vv$ 5 with the powerline-spacing lever to space the platen, and 1 at the end of theli'ne-spacing movement the lever comes against the abutment 19 and thereafter the force. of the power-driven carriage-return mechanism: is applied to the carriage through theline spacing lever 18, and the abutment 19, and to'some extent through the spring 16. It willbe observed that though in the preferred form the power used in returnin the carriage is thus applied to the carriage through the line-spac ing lever 18, since this is a convenient arrangenient in the Underwood typewriter, Figure 1, 1s a front elevation, of a someyet the parts may be so arranged, by limit- 16, as to apply the power to the carriage through the spring or through the limiting stop, after the line-spacing lever has been moved to effect the line-spacing operation.

VVhat-I claim is:

1. A typewriter carriage return mechanism including a laterally moving line-spacing lever and a carriage return motor, in combination with a device actuated by the pull of the carriage return motor to strike and actuate the line-spacing lever; substantially as described. 7

2. A typewriter carriage return mechanism including a carriagevreturn motor and a" laterally moving line-spacing lever normally disconnected from said motor, in com bination with a device-actuated by the pull of the carriage return motor to automatically apply that pull to the line-spacing lever and thereby space the platen and return the carriage; substantially as described.

3. A typewriter carriage return mechanism including a laterally'mvirlg line-spacing lever and a carriage returnmotor, in

adapted to engage the line-spacing lever,

and a spring tending to draw the slide bar away from'the line-spacing lever; substantially as described. I Y r I,

5.,A typewriter carriage return-mecha combination with a slide on the carriagete,

ring lever and a carriage return motor, in and an abutment on the slide bar adapted combination with a slide bar, a hook on to engage and actuate the line-spacing lever; said bar, a carriage return band connected substantially as described.

5 at one end to the motor and at the other In testimon whereofI afiix my signature, 15

end to the book, a guide-way for the slide in presence 0 two witnesses.

nism including a laterally moving line-spacfront bar, a spring conneeting said arms,

bar fastened to the front bar of the carriage, NEAL LAB-KIN ANDERSON. a short arm extending from said guide-Way Witnesses: beneath the said front bar, a short arm'exl FRED SHEETZ',

10 tending from the slide bar beneath the said W. H. MAsLiN.

Copies of this patentnlay be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. 

